Assets
by The Heavens' Answer
Summary: When Lara takes up Parkour as a hobby and refuses to use the door, Sam has to talk to her about it because of some... neighbor complaints.


_beccathefeisty:_ How about where Lara has picked up the hobby of parkour and refuses to use the door, and Sam has to talk to her about it since the neighbors are starting to complain about her climbing around the outside of their apartment building.

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><p><strong>Assets<strong>

Lara could feel her muscles burning, the sweat glistening off her skin in the early morning sun, and her shadow stretched across the brick wall, a silent guardian, hanging below her. Breathing in lightly through her nose, she closed her eyes for just a moment, a glorious moment, bathing in sun's rays for just a second longer. She loved being out at this time of day, where everything was this lovely deep yellow hue, as if the world were cast in gold. It was warm and luxurious and almost made her heart ache at the loveliness of it all.

An insistent tapping jolted her out of her thoughts and with a very quiet sigh, she dug her fingers into the cracks of her wall and hauled herself up, exhaling with relief as she got her upper body up and over the iron railing, but faltered when she found herself face to face with Sam. Sam with her arms crossed, lips pursed, gorgeous almond eyes narrowed and toes drumming an insistent beat into the balcony floor.

"Hey there," Lara smiled, breathing lightly through her nose as her arms wobbled a little - she may have pushed herself a little too far this time. Sam's gaze softened for a moment, and she moved forward to place a quick kiss on her lips before tugging her insistently over the railing.

Lara landed with a bit less grace than she would have liked, but was distracted by the way Sam reposition herself and was staring inscrutably at her. It was a little disconcerting. Sam wasn't usually so unreadable - she tended to wear her heart on her sleeve, when she _had_ sleeves, not like right now, in snug boxer short panties and a low hanging, black wife beater, which thankfully, was much more than she was wearing last night -

"Have you thought about checking out that gym, I told you about? I know you don't like practicing around people but..."

Lara shifted guiltily. "I did. I don't think it's for me, Sam. I appreciate the suggestion though." The thing is, after Yamatai -

"- Lara, you know I love you right?" Sam started, earnestly, derailing Lara's rather pleasant line of thought and sending it to a screeching halt.

"Yeah," Lara said hesitatingly. Conversations that opened with that particular line never contained good content. Despite herself, she felt her shoulders tensing as she braced for impact.

"I support you one hundred percent but it's just that the neighbours have been complaining."

Lara made the motions of dusting herself off. "Oh yeah?" She tried to sound casual, but she felt a little bit of relief flood through her - she wouldn't know what to do if it was going to be a relationship talk. She could deal with anything else.

"You nearly gave Mrs. Robinson a heart attack."

"Well, not to be insensitive, but she is erm… one of the more mature tenants?" Lara offered, and quickly amended, "Not that I wish her an undue harm." She made her way into the apartment, sighing blissfully at the AC chilled room. She heard the screen door slide shut resolutely as Sam followed her inside.

"She's a lovely lady, really," Lara added as she turned. Sam shoved a glass of water into her hand, which she took gratefully.

Sam rolled her eyes, but her arms did not uncross. "But really, Lara, we live on the _eighth floor_ of an _apartment_ building."

"I am aware of that! I can scale eight flights pretty quick now. I'm improving for sure, next I'll be able to -"

"Not to mention, Mark and David have been making … comments about the view," Sam interjected, glowering slightly.

Lara set the glass down into the sink and turned to lean nonchalantly on the counter as she faced Sam.

"And they're a little too appreciative of it for my tastes, if you catch my drift."

Lara blinked and shrugged. "Well, they live on the four floor on the east side so, they do probably get very nice lighting during the day."

"Lara, sweetie, they were talking about your ass."

"Oh. _That _view," Lara turned red and stammered a little. "I…ah…" She reached up to tug nervously at her ponytail, which was coming loose. "I suppose they're up early in the mornings?"

Sam sighed, finally uncrossing her arms and moving closer to Lara. She carefully placed a hand on either side of Lara, the smooth, cold marble of the countertop a nice contrast from the heat emanating from Lara's furious blush.

"You know I really don't care about our neighbours complaining. They've been muttering about it for a while and it's never bothered me until," Sam's gaze slid sideways. "Well, until Mark and David started talking about certain assets."

Lara bopped her gently on the tip of her nose with a fingertip. "Certain assets?" she asked, teasing.

Though Sam quickly turned the tables when her hands slid off the countertop.

"This is mine," Sam growled, as she gave a squeeze for good measure. "Mark and David can go die in a corner before they are allowed to appreciate this."

"I…" Lara said, sounding somewhat strangled. "I suppose I can relocate my parkouring attempts to a more isolated area."


End file.
